Automakers may face fuel economy of 56 miles/gallon

WASHINGTON: Automakers, including Ford Motor and Toyota Motor that sell vehicles in the US may have to boost car and light truck fuel economy to an average 56.2 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025 under a White House proposal presented last week.

In separate meetings with Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler Group on June 22, the Obama administration asked the three largest US automakers to analyse the effects of a 56.2-mpg fuel-economy target, two people familiar with the talks said.

That represents an improvement of about 5% per year in each company's fleetwide average fuel economy from 2016 when they are required to have a 35.5 mpg average for vehicles sold in the US. The Detroit News reported the administration's plan on Saturday.

Republicans, including Environmental Protection Agency administrators for every Republican president since Richard Nixon joined other Republicans this week in requesting Obama to write "aggressive" fuel economy standards for 2017 to 2025, the years covered by the rule now being drafted.

Increasing fuel economy by the amount proposed could cost at least $2,100 per vehicle, according to a document prepared last year by the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who have said they will publish a proposed rule by September 30. California's Air Resources Board is also helping write the rule and was represented at this week's meetings, according to the people familiar with the talks.

"We continue to work closely with a broad range of stakeholders to develop an important standard that will save families money and keep the jobs of the future here," Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said in an email. "A final decision has not been made, and as we have made clear we plan to propose that standard in September."

Any number being floated now is early in the process, Greg Martin, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM, said in an interview. "There's a way go to in this process," said Mr Martin, who said he doesn't know what the White House said in the meeting. "Any number out there right now has the rigidity of Jello."

Christin Baker, a spokeswoman for Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, also declined to comment on this week's talks. "Our discussions with the administration are ongoing and productive," she said in an email.

Environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council are pushing for a 62-mpg standard by 2025, saying increasing the fuel economy average will help US automakers regain market share they lost to foreign competitors who sold smaller cars in the US.